I thought it was because they see nationalized healthcare as a lever to crack open America for socialism. Silly me. Why Dems Are Obsessed by Health Reform. They believe the liberal base expects them to deliver and will punish them if they don't.

As of today, the Lisbon Treaty comes into force in Europe and Britain becomes just a province of that supranational authority. Richard North sums it up:

From today, as the Lisbon treaty comes into force, we are no longer masters in our own house. Our prime minister, as a member of the European Council, is obligated under this new treaty to promote the aims and objectives of the European Union, over and above those of the UK, and is bound by the rules of the Union.

Of course, this will make no immediate difference. It simply renders de jure what has been de facto for several decades, but the coming into force of the treaty marks an important symbolic turning point. We are no longer an independent country, de jure. Our prime minister and his government are now working for an alien government, based in Brussels.

Of course they do. - Warmists Give Climategate the Cold Shoulder The guys in this video are from CEI, the outfit my husband works for! They ask environmentalist what they think about the CRU scandal and the greenies are circling the wagon.

If you were a Congressman, these numbers would make you tremble: Scott Rasmussen finds that an astonishing 71 percent of voters describe themselves as angry at the current policies of the federal government. That's up five percent since September. A plurality of 46 percent say they are "very angry" at the federal government. That's up 10 percent since September.

And, while the Republicans have not been able to take advantage of voter disenchantment with the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats as effectively as they might, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on eight of ten issues, including the economy (48-36), taxes (47-36) and national security (50-37).

The Democrats have less than a year to turn those attitudes around. Currently, voters' negative views of the Democrats are hardening, not softening.

Palin not only has a keen grasp of the details of governing and budgeting, she also understands the political difficulties inherent in making government responsive. Many of her antagonists at the national level scoffed at the notion that her experience in Wasilla was of any value. Quite the contrary, local government is where a public official's decisions have the most direct impact on the electorate. It's where you really have to understand the ins and outs of what you're doing.

In my life I have met, befriended, worked with, and loved people from all walks of life, ethnicities, religious backgrounds, etc., etc. And the thing they all had in common was kindness, innate good sense, and decency.

We didn't necessarily agree on deep subjects like religion, art, or politics but we shared mutual respect for one another and acceptance.

Which is why I am constantly puzzled by folks who feel the need to define themselves down to a physical attribute like the color of their skin or how they use their genitalia.

Good Lord. Why would you do that? You are a human being and what does it matter if your skin is light or dark? If your eyes are shaped a particular way? Or if you prefer men to women (or vice versa).

Any why do some folks insist on telling me their sexual preferences as a way of identifying themselves. I don't care what happens in the privacy of your own bedroom so long as it occurs between consenting adults. Sexual predators like pedophiles and real deviants like Sado-masochists - well those people are just wrong.

But if you're a decent human being who tries their best to be good, doesn't break any laws, and engages in loving relationships, then I do NOT care what happens in your bedroom.

And I do NOT care that you have a different ethnicity or different religion or different income or different education or different anything. The only think I care about, that anyone should EVER care about is if you are a kind, courteous and decent law-abiding person. Everything else is just an accident of the human condition.

So those who want to be Hyphenated Americans or want to be defined by what's in their pants, go right ahead but, in my humble opinion, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Your real value is who you are, not what you are.

Yet never forget that here in America you can be different without real fear. That it is against the law to murder a daughter because she wants to marry outside her religion. That you can not stone a homosexual to death. That you can have the faith you want, the number of children you want, the life you want. America may not be perfect (nothing is) but it is still the freest place on Earth.

Firstly, we must understand how the whole thing hangs together, because the edifice of AGW is very definitely not just pure science, boffins in white coats in labs and so forth. It spans the whole gamut from real pure science, through the applied sciences and Engineering, passing through economics and finally ending up in the dark arts of Politics and Diplomacy. That's a lot to take in, so I have created a handy diagram that explains. Never let it be said that your polymathematic Pedant-General makes you do the hard work.